The Enlarged NATO partners

by
Manlio Dinucci

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union, NATO has turned into a global tool of U.S imperialism. The Arab countries of the Persian Gulf (except Oman and Yemen) are already integrated into the Alliance, alongside Israel. Accordingly, Qatar provided a screen for the mercenaries used by NATO against Libya.

It’s the anniverary season at NATO. The 20th anniversary of the "Mediterranean Dialogue" was celebrated in Amman (Jordan) on 9 and 10 December. It was attended by NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg and the 28 representatives of the North Atlantic Council, plus he ambassadors of the seven partner countries: Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Israel, Morocco, Mauritania and Tunisia. Three years ago, Stoltenberg recalled, "during our NATO-led operation to protect the people of Libya, both Jordan and Morocco made important military contributions."

Indeed, the "Mediterranean Dialogue" provides for the training of officers from partner countries in NATO military academies, including the "Defense College" in Rome, and for that of Special Forces by the "Mobile Training Teams" dispatched by NATO on the spot. These activities are complemented by those included in NATO’s "individual cooperation programs" with each of the seven partners.

The most important is the one with Israel, ratified by NATO in December 2008, three weeks before Israel launched Operation "Cast Lead" against Gaza. It paved the way for Israel’s electronic link to the NATO system, increased joint military exercises and development of weapons systems, and even the expansion of their "anti-nuclear proliferation cooperation" (ignoring that Israel, the only nuclear power in the region, will not hear of signing the non-Proliferation Treaty and has rejected the proposed UN conference on the denuclearization of the "Middle East"). "With the rise of ISIL and the spread of violence and hatred throughout North Africa and the Middle East - underscored Stoltenberg - that synergy between us is more necessary than ever." And, with reference to Jordan, he defined it as "an island of stability in a sea of turbulence" by praising "the contributions that Jordan is delivering both to stability in the region but also to the partnership with all NATO Allies."

A well deserved praise: Jordan helped to create the "turbulent sea" by first participating in the NATO war that obliterated the Libyan state, and then, surreptitiously, in the NATO-led war in Syria. Jordan, like Turkey, constitutes the forward base of this operation, carried out in synergy with Israel, with the aim not to destroy the Islamic State (instrumental to this strategy), but the State of Syria. By virtue of their merits, said Stoltenberg, the Jordanian armed forces will now be part of the "NATO Response Force."

After celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the "Mediterranean Dialogue," the secretary general of NATO and the 28 representatives of the North Atlantic Council headed to Doha (Qatar) to celebrate, on December 11, the tenth anniversary of the "Istanbul Cooperation Initiative", the partnership between NATO and the four monarchies of the Gulf: Bahrain, UAE, Kuwait and Qatar. Stoltenberg cited the "Libya campaign as an example of how NATO and Gulf partners can work together." In the war against Libya, Qatar played a distinguished role, as acknowledged by the Chief of Staff himself [1], by infiltrating into Libya thousands of commandos on the orders of the Pentagon. It is this same Qatar which, according to an investigation by the Financial Times, is currently spending billions of dollars to fund and arm the Islamist groups fighting in Syria, including IS, which is also sponsored by Kuwait and Saudi Arabia.

Is it a mere coincidence that, in Doha, the secretary general of NATO never mentioned the IS?

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